Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Sitta frontalis

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernInvertebratesForestCavity nestSmall · 17 g

ID tip

The velvet-fronted nuthatch has the typical nuthatch shape, short tail and powerful bill and feet. It is a small nuthatch, 12–13.5 cm long. It is violet-blue above, with lavender cheeks, buffy grey underparts, yellow eyes, and a whitish throat. The iris is distinctly pale and yellow. The bill is orange-red to bright red, and there is a black patch on the forehead and lores which is well developed in adults and less so in younger birds. The legs vary in colour between different subspecies (see #Subspecies, below). Young birds have a dark beak and dark tips to the undertail coverts.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is February, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Regular range

The map shades 17 countries with regular records. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

About the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

The velvet-fronted nuthatch is a small passerine bird in the nuthatch family Sittidae found in southern Asia, from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka ‍and Bangladesh east to southwestern China and Indonesia. Like other nuthatches, it feeds on insects in the bark of trees, foraging on the trunks and branches and their strongly clawed toes allow them to climb down tree trunks or move on the undersides of horizontal branches. They are found in forests with good tree cover and are often found along with other species in mixed-species foraging flocks. Adult males can be told apart by the black stripe that runs behind and above the eyes. They have a rapid chipping call note.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Eurasian Nuthatch vs Velvet-fronted Nuthatch · Pygmy Nuthatch vs Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

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